Ha Jolly Ha

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Magical Paintings

The other day I stopped in a quaint rare book store and learned a great deal from my chat with the friendly book seller. Amidst all the trivia, he took a moment to show me a magical type of book I never knew existed. Sometimes, books with gold-edging on the outside edge also have an elaborate painting spread thinly across the inside edges of the paper, ordinarily hidden from view...sort of like Runes only visible in the moonlight...except, in this case, you fan the pages and the image magically appears.




You can read a bit about the forgotten craft of Fore-Edging here.

Monday, January 28, 2008

A Good Sense of Direction

...is a great trait in a man. But a sense of liturgical orientation is even more admirable.

Friday, January 25, 2008

Quote of the Day

"The State which controls men's actions and educates their intellects, which, in a word, enforces the knowledge of truth and compels obedience to it, is actually freeing its citizens by that process...I am more free to exercise my powers and use the forces of the world in which I live, and not less free, when I have submitted my intellect to facts."

Robert Hugh Benson, Paradoxes of Catholicism

Thursday, January 10, 2008

A Contest

I am going to steal an idea from the Dappled Things forum and invite all of my readers(ahem, all 2 of them) to take part in an Irish Drinking Song Contest. Scandalous Irish drinking songs were an important part of my formation! Here was my submission at Dappled Things:

Ale in the Hills by the Sea

I met a lightsome lass
In the hills by the sea
And she sang right bonnily
(Ay, she sang right bonnily, clap)
There on the braes o’ grass
Where her father’s kine did sleep

I offered her a drop
In the hills by the sea
And it proved a happy thought
(Ay, it proved a happy thought, clap)
For beside me she did stop
And from me didn’t stray

My choicest ale we shared
In the hills by the sea
As I told her tales right bold
(Ay, tales right bold, clap)
Of what I was prepared
To do for her sweet face

Says she, you are most kind
In the hills by the sea
And your boldness I do need
(Ay, my boldness she did need, clap)
For my father he did bind
Me to marry a muckle fool

Well the lass she did not lie
In the hills by the sea
For the man was muckle indeed
(Ay, the man was muckle indeed, clap)
I beheld him with a sigh
As he came over the lee

Then I choked upon my drink
In the hills by the sea
As he bellowed an angry oath
(Ay, he bellowed an angry oath, clap)
Sure I wanted to shrink
As he swung his shillelagh at me.

But the ale was e’r my aid
In the hills by the sea
For he slipped upon that bottle
(Ay, he slipped upon that bottle, clap)
And I fled away with the maid
While he lay like a great felled tree

And we married and built a fine house
(Aye, we married and built a fine house, clap)
Away from the hills by the sea

Stranger Than Fiction



After a holiday replete with good company, delectable banquets, innumerable carols and rich devotions, I return refreshed and ready to take up the bally sword...er pen...er keyboard...against (drumroll) BANKS. Actually, I am going to let YouTube do the heavy lifting on this occasion. Just take a look at the five part series, Money As Debt. It would be chilling if it weren't so darn funny too.